How to claim an inheritance

If there is no will, inheritance is succeeded   in the order of precedence, priority if which is determined by degree of kinship. 

• 1^st queue: children, including those who were born after a testator`s death; spouse and parents. Grandchildren and their descendants inherit property by right of representation. It happens when an heir died at the same time as testator or before that. Under such circumstances, inheritance assets and other property go to descendants and should be divided equally.
• 2^nd queue: full-blood/half-blood brothers and sisters; grandfather and grandmother both from paternal and maternal side. Children of full-blood/half-blood brothers and sisters (nieces and nephews) inherit property by right of representation.
• 3^rd queue: uncles and aunts. Cousins inherit property by right of representation.
• 4^th queue: great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers.
• 5^th queue: grand-nephews and grand-nieces, great-uncles and great-aunts.
• 6^th queue: great-grandchildren, great-nieces and great-nephews, grand-uncles and grand-aunts.
• 7^th queue: stepbrothers and stepsisters, stepsons, stepdaughters, stepfathers and stepmothers, if they lived with a testator as family for no less than ten years.
• 8^th queue: disabled disabled dependents at the time of opening of the inheritance (disabled persons of I, II and III groups; children under 18 years of age; pensioners; full-time students under 23 years of age), as well as disabled, not included in the circle of heirs of this queue inherit by law on an equal basis with the heirs of this queue, if at least a year before the death of the testator were dependent on him, regardless of whether they lived with the testator or not.

Heirs from one queue inherit property in equal parts. Each subsequent queue of heirs obtains a right for inheritance, if there are no heirs in a queue above.   

Who is deemed to be an unworthy heir

Parents/adopters and adopted full-aged children, who didn`t support a testator pursuant to procedure established by law can be recognized by court as unworthy heirs.

Unworthy heirs are individuals, who killed a testator or those who attempted to murder a testator; heirs who prevented a testator from making a will; parents of testator-children, who were deprived of parental rights.

The above-mentioned individuals can be recognized as unworthy heirs even if they have a right for hereditary portion.   

Property as well as property given as present is not subject to division during divorce as it is not deemed to be a marital property. Therefore, when one of spouses obtains an inheritance it will be deemed to be a property of individual, who obtained it.

Inherited property can be deemed as marital property if it is stipulated by marriage contract. In this case, for instance, a flat can be divided during divorce.  

Also, owner can voluntary transfer ownership for an inherited flat to a spouse.    

If an accommodation is renovated at the expense of another spouse, it cease to be inherited and won`t have a sole owner.

The property of each of the spouses is:

1. property owned by each of the spouses before entering into the marriage (marriage);
2. property received by the spouses during the marriage (marriage) as a gift, by way of inheritance or by other gratuitous transactions.

The property of each of the spouses shall be recognized as their common joint property, if it is established that during the marriage (marriage), at the expense of the common property of the spouses or the property of the other spouse or the work of either of them, investments have been made which significantly increased the value of that property (major repairs, reconstruction, re-equipment and others).

Inheritance is a transfer of property of deceased citizen (legator) to other individuals, i.e. heirs.

Property can be inherited via two options:

• upon will;
• upon law, if there was no will.

One can inherit immovable and movable property, intellectual property, company name and trademarks. Non-property rights are also included. Apart from property, debts for property are also included into inheritance.

One cannot inherit rights and liabilities related to a legator`s personality:

• right for membership in legal entities unless otherwise provided by legislation acts or contract;
• right for compensation of harm inflicted to life or health;
• rights and liabilities related to alimony;
• rights for pension payments, benefits and other payments based on labour legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan and laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of social assistance;
• personal non-property rights not related to property ones, except cases stipulated by legislation acts.   

Place of inheritance release is a place of testator`s permanent (temporary) residence and if it is unknown than it is a place of property or its integral part location. Time of inheritance release is the date of testator`s death.

Determination of testator`s place of residence and time of inheritance release is required for provision of inheritance right certificate to heirs. 

If you await for inheritance than after testator`s death you need to apply to a public notary at the place of inheritance release.

One should come into inheritance within 6 months from the moment of its release and on the expiry of 6 months, public notary issues an inheritance right certificate.

The certificate can be obtained prior to expiry of 6-months period, if a public notary will certify that there are no other candidates.

If heirs missed the term of inheritance acceptance, court can restore the term on the following conditions:

• the term was missed for a valid reason, for instance, disease;
• an heir appealed to court within six-months after valid reasons.

Inheritance is deemed to be accepted, if a heir:

• came into ownership/management of property;
• protects property from intervention of third parties;
• paid expenses for property maintenance;
• paid a testator`s debts and obtained money owed by third parties to testator.

 Inheritance does not depend on citizenship of heir as heir can be a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, foreigner and country in general.  If property is not located in Kazakhstan, re-registration of property is performed under the laws of the country, where inheritance was released.

Will is a written expression of citizen`s will regarding his/her property disposal in case of death. If document is available, property is inherited by individuals selected by testator. This can not only be relatives but other individuals.

A will can be considered as notarized if there is no public notary nearby.

Categories of people, who have a right to make a will without public notary:  

• patients of health resorts, centers for senior citizens/ the disabled (a will is certified by director, chief medical officer, duty doctor);
• military officers staying at hospitals or other military medical organizations (a will is certified by director);
• seamen at sea (a will is certified by a ship`s captain);
• participants of expeditions (a will is certified by head of expidition);
• military officers living in localities, where there are no public notaries (a will is certified by head of military unit);
• convicted individuals (a will is certified by head of prison).

A witness should be present when a will is made, he/she should be mentioned in a will and sign it.

Upon expiry of 6 months from the date of inheritance release at public notary`s office, heir or heirs obtain inheritance right certificate, which should be registered at “Government for Citizens” Public Corporation.

If there are no disputes related to inheritance, than a document is issued earlier (in case of hereditary succession or inheritance by will).

The certificate enables registering the ownership right for house, flat or plot. Ownership right won`t come into force without public registration.

Documents are submitted to CSC at the place of real property item location. You should enclose the following to application:

• inheritance right certificate,
• identification document for real property,
• documents certifying payment for public registration of rights for real property item.

Payment for public service delivery is charged pursuant to the approved prices for goods (works, services) in the field of public registration of rights for real property item.

Term for consideration of application for public registration of rights for real property item is 3 working days.